Unpossible Autograph from the National-Bobby Adams

This autograph also came from the National but is from a different dealer than the one that sold me the previous few Crown cards.  Apparently, this dealer would buy up collections of autographs at auctions and then arbitrarily assign prices to the cards.  He had an Orioles box of autographs and I was able to add a few unpossible autographs from that at very reasonable prices.   I was especially happy to find Bobby's autograph since this '56 Topps card and his Crown card are the only two Orioles cards that he has and I've never seen them for sale before.

Bobby played in the Major Leagues for 14 seasons from 1946-59, spending the first ten of those seasons with the Reds, followed by brief stints with the White Sox and Orioles, before finishing out his playing career with three seasons for the Cubs.  Bobby appeared in 41 games for the Orioles during the 1956 season and played 2B & 3B, exactly as this card says he did.  His 1952 season with the Reds was the best of his career; he led the National League in singles, games played & at-bats and received MVP consideration for his effort.

Before his MLB playing career began, Bobby fought in WWII, which was pretty common with players around that time, but I still like to give credit where it's due.  Bobby coached in the Cubs organization from the end of his playing career through 1973 and also spent some time as the AAA Tacoma Cubs club president.  His brother, Dick, and son, Mike, also played in the Majors, so the Adams are truly a baseball family.

Bobby passed away on February 13, 1997 at the age of 75.  Rest in Peace Bobby.  

National Success-Juan "Titi" Beniquez

Juan had a much longer MLB career than I thought he did, and played in exactly 1500 games over 17 seasons for 8 different American League teams from 1971-1988.  He spent the 1986 season with the Orioles as a super utility player, appearing at all three OF positions, first & third base and also serving as the DH.  Juan's O's highlight occurred on June 12 when he hit three home runs, half of his season total, in one game against the Yankees.  Atta boy, Juan!

Over his career, Juan was generally used in a super utility role, and rarely filled a single position for any substantial period of time, only appearing in over 135 games once in his career, when he played 145 games for the '76 Rangers.  His 5 seasons with the Angels were the most amount of time he spent with any of the 8 teams he played for, and his career highlights were winning a Gold Glove on the '77 Rangers and receiving some MVP votes for his '84 season with the Angels.

I really like Juan's autograph, it's very stylized and smooth.  I can also more or less read Juan Beniquez, but only because I know what I'm looking at.  Juan's autograph is readily available online, but I've had no luck going after the very few Orioles autographs I've seen for sale.  I bought this card from the same dealer who had the Hazewood & Melendez autos.  I have one more Crown card to show that I bought from him. 

As was the case with Melendez yesterday, I can't find a translation for Juan's nickname, Titi.  I have an idea based on my knowledge of American slang, but I don't see how that makes any sense...

National Success- Francisco Melendez

I was able to pick up this autograph from the same dealer who had the Drungo Hazewood auto that I blogged about on Monday.  Francisco "Terin" Melendez played in 9 games for the Orioles during the '89 season and he went 3-11 with a run and 3 RBI.  That was the end of his MLB career, but he had also spent time with the Phillies and Giants over his 5 seasons in the Majors.  He played in only 74 games over that that time, led by the 23 games he played for the Giants in 1988. He came to the O's from the Giants for Ken Gerhart between the '88 & '89 seasons. 

If any of my readers know Spanish better than I do, they might be able to help me figure out his nickname.  I couldn't track down the definition of Terin, and am interested to see what it means, but I'm guessing that it's slang of some sort. Francisco stayed involved with baseball after his playing days were over and supposedly was coaching a team in his native Puerto Rico, at least through 2008.  He's a pretty tough autograph to track down, especially considering this Crown card is his only O's card.  There is no confirmed address or successes for him on SCN.

Oriole #883* -Armando Gabino

In last night's 14-8 Orioles victory over the Indians in Cleveland, Armando Gabino made his Orioles debut, coming out of the bullpen to pitch the 9th inning.  He wasn't particularly sharp, giving up a single, a home run, and a walk in his inning.  He threw 20 pitches, only 10 for strikes, but he retired one of this blog's least favorite players, Matt LaPorta, to end the game.  (LaPorta was one of the key Akron Aeros responsible for taking out the Baysox in the '08 Eastern League playoffs.  The Indians organization also conveniently rehabbed Travis Hafner in AA during those playoffs.  BOO Indians!) 

Last night wasn't Armando's MLB debut as he pitched in two games for the Twins late last season.  Unfortunately, the results were about the same and his ERA sits at 17.36 after 3 big league appearances. 

I've written about Armando a few times and was able to get his autograph at both a Spring Training and a Baysox game this season, so I'm able to add him to my have list as well as my overall Orioles player list.  I had a good experience with him at a Baysox game this April, if you missed that post, just click the link if you want to check it out.  Armando was a great guy both times that I got his signature, so I'm really hoping that he can pitch better the next time he takes the bump for the Birds. 

It's always fun to see when a player who signs his number on cards appears on different teams and signs the corresponding number he wore on that team.  Armando wore 61 in Spring Training and 83 as a member of the Baysox.  He is currently wearing 41 with the O's, so I would like to get a card signed by him now with a 41 on it!

* Thanks to eagle-eyed blog reader, Orioles collector and trade partner Russell, I figured out that Armando is actually the 883rd player to appear as an Oriole, as opposed to the 884th that I listed yesterday

My Experience at the National-Brought to You By Drungo Hazewood

Yes, Drungo Hazewood is a real person, I didn't make him up, I'm not nearly creative enough to come up with a name that unique.  That's him on this Orioles Crown card, and while the Crown card is not new to me, the addition of the autograph sure is.  Drungo wasn't signing at the National, but I did meet a dealer who had his autograph for sale. This is the first time I have EVER seen an autograph of his available ANYWHERE, so I had to add him to my collection.  He's regarded as one of the tougher living Orioles to get an autograph of, so I was extremely happy to add him to my collection.  From what I understand, he doesn't understand why anyone would want his autograph, so is just a very tough signature to track down.  This Crown card is his only Orioles card and he also appeared in a few of the AAA Rochester Red Wings team sets.  As the O's first round draft pick in 1977, think how many cards would have been made of him as a first-rounder nowadays. 

Drungo played in only 6 games for the O's during the final month of the 1980 season and had 5 at-bats, going  0-5 with 4 strikeouts and a run scored.  He tore the cover off the ball during spring training in 1980, hitting at a .583 clip and Earl Weaver felt bad that he had to cut a player who was hitting that well, but there just wasn't a roster spot for Drungo at that time.  In the Minor Leagues, he hit a bunch of homers, but also struck out a lot as he had trouble hitting breaking pitches. 

Moving on to my impression of the National, it was flat out amazing, and actually overwhelming at times.  There were hundreds of dealers who were selling almost anything sports related item that you could dream of.  If I had an unlimited budget, I could have purchased some truly one-of-a-kind Orioles memorbilia.  Since that's not the case, I focused on Orioles autographs.  Surprising, right? 

I came across a few dealers who were right up my alley, specifically, the one who had this Drungo card.  I bought a few signed Crown cards from him, and plan on staying in touch with him for other hard to get O's autographs.  There were probably 5-6 other dealers who specialized in non-certified signed cards that I also focused on.  I have a pretty good idea what many former Orioles' autographs look like, so it serves as a decent barometer for what's legit or not.  Luckily, all of the autograph dealers I came across seem like they were selling authentic autographs.  All told, I added 13 autographs and upgraded another 5 to Orioles cards.  I will be posting them all here over the next few weeks.

The Elusive Julio Lugo

I was finally (FINALLY) able to get Julio to sign his Orioles postcard.  I had been trying to get him to sign for most of the season, and had luck one other time, on his 09 Topps Cardinals card.  In a case of bad timing, I got my Orioles postcard of him the very next day, and he had signed around me and almost seemed to avoid me since my first success with him.  With my luck, one of the upcoming card sets will have an Orioles card of him, and I will need to upgrade once again, but at least I now have his autograph on an O's card.  Believe me, I can now sleep easier at night. 

Not really, but it had been a thorn in my side. Thanks Lugo!

Unpossible Autograph- Dick Kryhoski

This isn't Dick Kyhoski's first appearance on my blog; for those of you who have been reading or following for a while,  I showed off my first auto of his way back in June 2009.  Since that autographed card showed him in a Browns uniform, I kept my eyes open and found this signed O's card for sale and made the upgrade to my collection.  I think that I have since traded away the Browns autograph, but I'm so disorganized these days that it's really hard to say. 

Dick played 7 seasons in the Major Leagues from 1949-55 with 5 different teams, the Orioles, St. Louis Browns, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City A's, and New York Yankees.  He was a left-handed hitting first baseman, and his career highlight was probably being a member of the '49 Yankees World Series Champs in his rookie season, although it doesn't look like he appeared in any games during the WS.  Dick followed the Browns from St. Louis to Baltimore and was a member of the O's 1954 inaugural team, which was also the only year he played for the Birds. 

I also wanted to mention that Dick served in the military during WWII.  He died on April 10, 2007; but had been active in player alumni groups and remained a good TTM signer until his passing.  RIP Dick. 

The National Has Officially Arrived in Baltimore

And I'm happier than Kiko Garcia in 1979

I spent a few hours at the show yesterday and found a number of autographs that I needed for my collection, including a few deceased players and some others who are still alive but never sign, thus making them almost as difficult to get as those players who have passed away.  But seriously, there are like a thousand dealers at the show.  I've never seen anything like it and plan on spending another day or two there.

Interesting note- Kiko was once traded to the Astros for Chris Bourjos, who never appeared for the Orioles, but is the father of current Angels CF and top prospect, Peter Bourjos, who made his MLB debut against the Orioles on Tuesday and collected his first Big League hit against the O's yesterday.  Weird right?  Where else are you going to read something like that?

Is Buck Showalter the One Who Can Save The Orioles?

We won't know the answer to that question for months, maybe even years.  But did he start on the right foot by winning his first game as the Orioles manager?  Absolutely.  And the game was a masterpiece, at least for the 2010 Orioles, and featured a balanced hitting and pitching attack. Nice work Buck.  Unfortunately, even if you can turn the franchise around, your 1.000 winning percentage in the black and orange is only able to get worse. 

Photo courtesy the Baltimore Sun

TTM Success- Grady Hatton

Grady Needs An Orioles Hat-He Would Be Smiling If Wearing An O's Hat

Grady was nice enough to sign and return my TTM request in only 28 days.  He has an amazingly smooth signature for an 87 year old guy, my handwriting is nowhere near that clear and I'm 60 years behind him. 

Mr. Hatton spent approximately 40 years of his life around the game of baseball as a player, coach, manager, scout and executive.  To list all of the positions he has filled and responsibilities he held could certainly be the start of a whole new blog, possibly "The Baseball Life of Grady Hatton" or "Grady's Baseball Memories".  But as a quick rundown, Grady played for the Reds, Red Sox, Cardinals, Cubs, Orioles & White Sox over his 12 year playing career.  His best years came at the start of his career as a member of the Reds from 1946-54, when he received MVP votes in '46 & '48, and made the '52 N.L. All-Star team.  He also spent about two and half seasons as the Astros manager from 1966-68.

He appeared in only 27 games for the Orioles during the 1956 season, and somehow no pictures seem to exist of him in an Orioles uniform.  That must be the reason that his "Orioles" Crown card pictures him in a Reds hat.  And yes, if you've followed this blog for any amount of time, I've had this complaint before.  I mean, it's not like players still had to sit for daguerreotypes in the 1950's! You mean to tell me that there's no pictures of Hatton in an O's hat that could've appeared in this set?!? Someone must have one somewhere!

Sorry for the rant, but that's how I feel.  

My Strange Journey with Don Welchel

Out of all of the autographs in my collection to this point, my experiences with Don Welchel have probably been the most interesting. For a long time, both my dad and I needed Don's autographs for our collection; my dad for his 1983 Orioles World Series team project and me for my overall collection.

I then traded a fellow Orioles collector for this Crown card, which was a start but personalized to Steve, so I sent a TTM request to Don, even though he had a low signing percentage on SportsCollectors.Net.

My dad then found this postcard on ebay, so he gladly picked it up to add to his collection. But he was still hoping for a 1983/84 Rochester Red Wings signed card, so he sent off a TTM request every 4 months or so over the course of a year.

At this point, we both had Welchel autograph's in our collections, but also were hoping to get our TTM requests back even though Don was about a 25% signer. He wasn't getting many requests since he only pitched in 13 games for the Orioles over the '82 & '83 seasons, but along with a few other collectors on SCN, we waited and hoped.

Then one day, I got one of my TTM envelopes back in the mail from Texas. Who could it be? You guessed it, Don Welchel!

He even personalized it as I had asked him to do. BUT there was a problem. I had put the card in a protective sleeve (a habit I have since quit). You see that line through the s & t in best? Yes, Don had signed half on my sleeve and half on my card.

AAAAHHH! At first I was fairly pissed, but in the end, it makes for a good story and I have a personalized Welchel card in my collection. It's not perfect but like I said, it might be the most interesting story behind any card in my collection.

But my dad still hadn't got any of his 3 requests back. He had to wait 2 days after I got mine, but then he received 3 SASE envelopes in the mail, and had a pretty good idea of what they were.
He got his Rochester Red Wings Welchel cards back! He gave me the two extra cards to trade and kept the other for his collection.

So we went from 0 Welchel autographs to 6 in a short amount of time. It was a pretty entertaining journey and I'm glad that I now can move on to the next "Don Welchel".

Thanks for signing our cards Don, it was very nice of you. One of the other collectors on SCN got his card back after a 1199 day wait! That's like 5 postage rate increases ago. Thank goodness for Forever Stamps.

Play At The Plate Contest

Go check it out, it's easy to enter and you can win an A&G blaster! Good luck everyone and thanks for the awesome contest Brian!